What Water Systems Need to Know About the U.S. EPA’s New Lead and Copper Rule Improvements Guidance

Author: William Shane

The clock is ticking for America’s water utilities. Under the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), water systems across the country are required to identify and replace all lead service lines within 10 years. This ambitious goal is not without its challenges, though, which is why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) recently released two draft guidance documents to help water systems achieve this goal. Impacted water systems, including industrial facilities and municipalities, should understand how these guidance documents impact LCRI compliance.

Service Line Inventory: Know What’s in the Ground

The first draft guidance document addresses developing a service line inventory. A big hurdle is that many utilities have “unknown” lines, or service lines whose material of construction isn’t documented. The guidance document offers several practical ways to close the gap without the cost of excavating and observing every service line. Experienced operators can submit signed statements documenting what they’ve observed over years of maintenance work. More significantly, the U.S. EPA explicitly encourages the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive modeling to statistically classify unknown lines. For example, a water system may visually inspect a random sample of lines and extrapolate results across similar areas, such as neighborhoods built at the same time. Systems that already completed modeling-based inventories before November 2027 may even qualify for a validation waiver, avoiding duplicative validation efforts.

When Replacement Isn’t Possible: Understanding “Access”

The second draft guidance document addresses an equally challenging issue, which is when a utility is unable to replace a lead service line because it simply cannot access the line. The LCRI requires replacement of all lead service lines under a system’s control but intentionally leaves the definition of access up to each water system.

The guidance document identifies three main categories of legitimate access barriers.

1. Property owner permission may be required for access. A property owner may refuse access and, after four contact attempts using at least two communication methods, the system is not required to replace that line. If a system requires customers to share replacement costs and a customer can’t or won’t pay, that also constitutes a lack of access.
2. State and local government laws and ordinances may limit access to replace service lines.
3. Genuine physical safety hazards, such as electrical risks, structural instability, and environmental contamination, can prevent replacement until conditions are safe.

Systems that document these barriers in good faith will remain in compliance even if lead lines remain in place past the 2037 deadline, as long as they continue replacing accessible lines at the required rate.

How Do These Guidance Documents Impact Me?

Industrial facilities subject to LCRI may not face the same difficulties a municipality would with developing a service line inventory or accessing lead service lines for replacement. For example, lead service lines at an industrial facility will likely all be on property owned by the facility; therefore, property owner permission would not be an issue.

Regardless of whether development of a service line inventory or accessing lead service lines poses a challenge, these two guidance documents indicate that U.S. EPA is listening to public input and is willing to work with impacted parties to ease the burdens of complying with the LCRI. Questions, suggestions, or other issues with the guidance documents can be shared via email at LCRI@epa.gov.

If you have questions about Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), LCRI compliance, or how the programs apply to your facility, please reach out to William Shane at wshane@all4inc.com or 859-233-0123.